A 76-year-old woman and her three grandchildren on Monday staged a protest in front of a quarry at Cheluppara in Kodiyathur complaining that the blasts at the quarry had caused deep cracks on their house.
The villagers blocked the trucks going to the quarry even as Palathil Ealikkutty and her grandchildren went on with their protest in the middle of the road.
The woman alleged that dust from the quarry had turned several people in the neighbourhood sick. The fly rocks from the quarry after each blast were posing threat to the residents in the area. She said her grandchildren had a narrow escape from such flying rock fragments recently.
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William Paulose, an environmental activist from the region, alleged that the quarry operators were running the business with the support of the grama panchayat and ignoring the protests of the residents. “We had approached several government departments seeking the closure of the unit, but the panchayat’s support was continuing to be the hurdle,” he said.
The panchayat authorities said the owner had all the legal clearance to operate the quarry. However, if it endangered the safety of the people, the matter would be taken up seriously, they said.